MPs set to demand cheap booze ban and drinking age of 21 to curb street violence of 'Binge Britain'

A ban on cut-price beer and wine and a higher drinking age may be needed to curb alcohol-related public disorder, MPs will say today.

In a devastating analysis of 'Binge Britain', they conclude that police forces are being overwhelmed by booze-fuelled mayhem.

In the report from the Commons home affairs select committee, one chief constable is quoted as saying that his officers were stretched to the 'absolute limits'.

Steve Green, of Nottinghamshire Police, said 24-hour drinking and the increased availability of alcohol meant there were ever fewer constables on the beat.

The MPs suggest a ban on supermarket 'loss leaders' - deals in which beer and other drinks are sold at a huge discount to lure in shoppers. They also want to restrict happy hours and other promotions.

The committee revealed that policymakers were considering raising the age for buying alcohol in supermarkets and shops to 21. Such a move is under way in Scotland.

The MPs said that by focusing on violence associated with football and alcohol police were 'hitting their targets but missing the point'.

Keith Vaz, the committee's Labour chairman, said: 'We cannot have on one hand a world of alcohol promotions for profit that fuels surges of crime and disorder and, on the other, the police diverting all their resources to cope with it.'

The MPs' assessment of the state of 'policing in the 21st century' is a sharp reprimand to ministers.

MPs say the police remain swamped in 'reams' of bureaucracy - spending up to twice as long on paperwork as they do on patrol.

The committee said the police were being stretched dealing with the influx of migrants to Britain - including an estimated one million from Eastern Europe. It said the foreigners took up more official time than British citizens.

The large number of murder suspects winning bail was another issue noted by the committee. But the withering assault on Britain's drinking culture will cause most alarm to a government struggling to defend 24-hour licensing.

Alcohol-related crime is estimated to cost the economy £7.3billion a year with almost half of victims of violence saying their attacker had been drinking. Yet, last year, alcohol was 69 per cent cheaper in real terms than in 1980.

The committee heard alarming evidence from a number of senior officers about the ramifications of Labour's decision to force through round-the-clock opening.

Mr Green, a long-standing opponent of late hours, said: 'It is no exaggeration to state that the whole focus of officer shift patterns is to deploy sufficient resources at weekends to cope with alcohol-fuelled disorder and football violence.

'The net effect is there are fewer officers on duty during the rest of the week to deal with other types of crime and fewer opportunities to be seen in their communities.'

The Home Office's own research points to a 1 per cent rise in violent crime, disorder and criminal damage between 6pm and 6am since 24-hour opening was introduced.

Serious violent crime is 25 per cent up between 3am and 6am.

Last night, Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'This is a shocking indictment of Labour's reckless approach to extended licensing and top-down target-driven approach which has resulted in perverse outcomes.

Children under 10 with alcohol problems

A child under ten is admitted to hospital for alcohol problems every three days, government data shows.

The figures, contained in a parliamentary answer obtained by the Liberal Democrats, show that 648 under-tens have been hospitalised in the past five years.

More than 24,000 under-16s were admitted for alcohol problems over the same period and 12,500 youngsters aged 16 and 17 were treated in casualty.

Don Foster, LibDem culture spokesman, said: 'For so many children of such a young age to be hospitalised is scandalous. Ministers must conduct an urgent review of the systems in place which are meant to be ensuring that young children cannot have access to such harmful substances.'

The figures from the Department of Health also showed that just over 600,000 adults were admitted with alcohol problems to English NHS trusts over the past five years.

The hospital admissions related to either the toxic effect of alcohol, to alcoholic liver disease or to mental and behavioural disorders following alcohol use.

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MPs set to demand cheap booze ban and drinking age of 21 to curb street violence of 'Binge Britain'